445 1W Spartan with melted lens

I'm having the SAME problem. Took it camping and was shining the beam into the sky, moving it about a bit when suddenly the beam changed to a wide spotlight like shape, no focus. Still burns objects placed directly in front of it, but as a laser it is useless. Dragonlasers only seem to have a 6 month warranty as well so I'm actually out of luck, and out over $200 as well.

I'm just not sure how to fix this myself. I'm not even sure how to get it apart, to see the lens.

OK. I took my lens out. It is is pristine condition. I continued to investigate, and the exposed diode has a black spot in the center of it. I've seen other diodes before, out of DVD players,Blue rays, etc. They don't havea spot in the center. Is my diode burned out? Replacing the diode out of warranty will be tougher than finding a lens, I assume.

I feel gutted, lol

cheech226 said:

the laser itself melted the lens. the ambient air temp or humidity had nothing to do with it. if you heat up plastic it will melt, water in the air does nothing to aid or retard this. trust me, i'm an old physics geek

Click to expand...

I just checked the site, and they state that Your laser should be stored in a dry place with humidity of no more than 45%. I'm not trying to argue, but the humidity was definitely more than 45% while I was using it, so it could have something to do with it.

Doomie said:

OK. I took my lens out. It is is pristine condition. I continued to investigate, and the exposed diode has a black spot in the center of it. I've seen other diodes before, out of DVD players,Blue rays, etc. They don't havea spot in the center. Is my diode burned out? Replacing the diode out of warranty will be tougher than finding a lens, I assume.

I feel gutted, lol

Click to expand...

How do you replace the lens in a Spartan? I'm thinking of doing it myself if it's not too complicated.